I watched a lot of WOR (channel 9), WPIX (channel 11), and Fox (Channel 5) growing up here in New York mainly because those were the stations that had cartoons as well as classic 80's shows in syndication like Diff'rent Strokes, Facts Of Life, and Mr. Belvedere. Because these stations were local, you get local commercials. One I remember as a kid involved a mythical place called Apex Tech.
I had no idea what Apex Tech was other than the fact it seemed that a friendly bald headed guy would tell you how important it was to be able to fix car engines, repair a refrigerator, and most importantly service air conditioners. Students appeared to be working very hard around him. His classic sign off "Now I can't call you, you have to the take the first step" is legendary.
I had forgotten about Apex Tech until I was walking down 6th Avenue in Manhattan a couple of weeks ago and stumbled across this and nearly crapped my pants...
It was almost like running into an old friend from elementary school you hadn't seen in years. The memories started coming back and I almost wanted to walk across the street to see if that affable bald headed instructor was still there (or still alive since its been nearly 20 years). Thankfully somebody on YouTube posted one of the old commercials. The audio isn't the greatest but it includes one of the greatest catch phrases of my early years...
Glory days of public access TV...
No comments:
Post a Comment